Wilmjax News

(09/15/07 — GASTONIA) - Two teenagers have been charged in the stabbing death of a homeless man, and investigators are looking at whether the killing was gang motivated, authorities said.

Royce Dean Mathis, 49, was found dead June 26 less than an hour after he told co-workers he was headed to a convenience store to get something to eat, authorities said.

An 18-year-old has been in the Gaston County jail on murder charges since Monday. On Thursday, authorities charged a 15-year-old with murder in Mathis’ death.

The case is the second in western North Carolina this summer in which teens are accused of killing homeless men. In July, three teens were charged with murder and robbery in the beating death of 45-year-old Terry Turner in Statesville.

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Durham — Public perception surrounding Mike Nifong’s prosecuting three former Duke lacrosse players took its toll on staff over the last year and a half in the Durham County District Attorney’s Office, the district’s top prosecutor said Thursday.

“Even though we may have had nothing to do with that case, (they’d think), ‘Oh, you’re absolutely evil because you’re connected with that case,’” said David Saacks, who took the helm last Friday after Gov. Mike Easley appointed him to fill the district attorney post vacated by Nifong.

“The truth always – always – is somewhere in between,” he continued. “It’s never one extreme or the other. Obviously, as human beings, if you understand that public perception is out there, it can wear on you.”

But in some ways, he said, the scrutiny made it easier for him and other prosecutors do their jobs.

“Our solution,” he said, “(was) put your head down, do your job, do your cases, do it the best that you can. That’s all you can do. That’s all anyone’s asking you to do, and you’ll be fine.”

Nifong worked on the lacrosse case while the other prosecutors in the office worked on other cases, Saacks said.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police have arrested a man who they believe robbed and carjacked a Domino’s pizza delivery man. It all happened just before 5 p.m. Friday on Elizabeth Avenue.

Police said Christopher Robinson approached the pizza delivery driver and demanded money from him and told him to get out of the van. The driver did what the suspect asked of him and got out of the van.

That’s when Robinson got into the van and drove away.

Police recognized the stolen vehicle 1999 Nissan Quest. Officers from Monroe Police Department and Union County Sheriff’s Office pursued the vehicle. Shortly after the pursuit started, officers were able to stop the van.

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Francisco “Paco” Tirado, one of nine people convicted for Cumberland County’s notorious 1998 gang-initiation killings, had his two death sentences converted to life without parole Thursday.

The sentences were converted because under a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Tirado was too young when he participated in the murders to qualify for the death sentence. He was 17 at the time.

The Supreme Court decided that people must be at least 18 at the time of their crimes to receive the death sentence.

Tirado is now 26.

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RALEIGH — Nearly all of the 25 illegal immigrants with ties to Smithfield Packing Co. who were arrested last month on suspicion of identity theft remain in federal custody awaiting indictments.

Attracta Kelly, an immigration lawyer with the independent N.C. Justice Center, said the suspects would normally be free while their cases are pending. Most face a maximum two-year prison sentence.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the suspects Aug. 22 during raids in Cumberland, Bladen, Hoke and Robeson counties. They were current or former employees of Smithfield, the Bladen County pork producer.

“In addition to them being criminally charged, they also have immigration problems,” Kelly said. “Immigration has a detainer on them. If their public defenders got them out on bond, Immigration would arrest them that very day.”

Kelly said if that happened, the suspects likely would be detained somewhere else farther away from Raleigh and have limited access to their public defenders.

As a result, 23 of the 25 suspects have waived their right to a detention hearing, in which they could have asked to be released pending trial. Two suspects, both women, were allowed free to receive medical attention. One is pregnant.

Of the suspects, 11 are men and 14 are women. Twenty-two are from Mexico, two are from Guatemala and one is from Honduras.

In addition to the 25 facing criminal charges, four immigrants were detained and are being deported.

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It took at least four tries to lure the CIAA tournament to Charlotte. Now it seems the weeklong event could be a longtime fixture on the city’s calendar.

CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry told the Observer on Thursday that he wants to make Charlotte the permanent home for the college basketball event, which returns next year Feb. 25- March 2.

Local leaders said they’d welcome the idea, with Charlotte City Council member James Mitchell also saying he’d like to open a CIAA office and museum here in the future.

No final deal has been set, but Kerry seemed confident that the tournament would stay in the area after a three-year contract runs out in 2008. Charlotte has hosted the event since 2006.

“We want to be here,” he said. “They want us here. It’s a matter of meeting their goals and our goals (and) they are similar. We’re not far apart on that.”

That means for now, the tournament isn’t likely to return to Raleigh, its home from 2000 through 2005. Kerry said the state capital had expressed interest in bidding for the event again, but the CIAA board decided in May not to request bids from other potential hosts.

However, one Raleigh official who helped prepare an earlier bid for the tournament said he was unaware of any interest from the city. “That’s news to me,” said Scott Dupree, director of sports marketing for the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association is home to 11 historically black colleges and universities, including Johnson C. Smith University and Salisbury’s Livingstone College. Its annual tournament is a major draw, featuring a week of basketball, step shows, concerts and parties.

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(09/14/07 — DURHAM) - Disbarred District Attorney Mike Nifong’s troubles may be far from over. And that may be the case for several individuals that were closely involved in the Duke Lacrosse case, according to Eyewitness News sources.

While Attorney General Roy Cooper is considering a request to investigate public officials that handled the case, ABC 11 Reporter Tamara Gibbs has learned federal investigators are collecting testimony and other court documents from Mike Nifong’s ethics trial and his recent contempt hearing.

Sources say the U.S. Attorney’s Office Middle District of North Carolina is considering whether to investigate the case. Investigators are trying to determine whether the civil rights of the former defendants were violated. Numerous calls to the U.S. Attorney’s Office were not returned.

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